Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion

[Scytale]

Let's go ahead and treat this as a full resubmit. Officially, the Specters of Aldorn have been withdrawn by the submitter and have been removed from the process.

The new and improved Specters of Aldorn have received 4 Yea votes to review (superfrog, Soundwarp SG-1, capsocrates, and Tai-Pan) and move forward in the process.

[BiggaBullfrog]

A belated huge congratulations to @Sir Heroscape and @The Dewk for Tetraites and Bol! I'm excited to put both of them in action!

[Just_a_Bill]

The revised Specters are very cool! I look forward to seeing where this goes.

Is this the right place for a couple of notes on the text for DEATHLY TOUCH? If so, here they are:

Grammar: The last comma (after "this turn") should be deleted; a comma must not separate subject from verb or verb from object (unless part of some other construct like a parenthetical phrase). The core sentence is "any figures subtract 1," not "any figures, subtract 1."

Word meaning: "Deathly" and "deadly" sound similar, but have distinct meanings. Someone or something that is sickly/dying/etc. is deathly. An action or situation that is lethal/fatal/mortal is deadly. (This is why existing units — Migol Ironwill, Minions of Utgar, Omnicron Snipers, and Zetacron — all use deadly in their SP titles.) Likewise, although the target of a specter may become "deathly" if enough skulls are rolled, the SP title is referring to the specters' touch, and that touch is actually deadly but not deathly. Naturally there will be a desire to keep the word "death" or a synonym in the title, so other possible alternatives might include TOUCH OF DEATH, MORTIFYING TOUCH, or something like DEATHLY PALLOR which could preserve "deathly" while using it appropriately to describe the Specters themselves.

[superfrog]

Yeah, this is as good of a place as any.

I'm sure at least the first of those edits will be made if the Specters pass the whole process. The second one might as well, we've changed things like power names before.

Thanks for chiming in

[Leaf_It]

Originally Posted by Just_a_Bill

The revised Specters are very cool! I look forward to seeing where this goes.

Is this the right place for a couple of notes on the text for DEATHLY TOUCH? If so, here they are:

Grammar: The last comma (after "this turn") should be deleted; a comma must not separate subject from verb or verb from object (unless part of some other construct like a parenthetical phrase). The core sentence is "any figures subtract 1," not "any figures, subtract 1."

Word meaning: "Deathly" and "deadly" sound similar, but have distinct meanings. Someone or something that is sickly/dying/etc. is deathly. An action or situation that is lethal/fatal/mortal is deadly. (This is why existing units — Migol Ironwill, Minions of Utgar, Omnicron Snipers, and Zetacron — all use deadly in their SP titles.) Likewise, although the target of a specter may become "deathly" if enough skulls are rolled, the SP title is referring to the specters' touch, and that touch is actually deadly but not deathly. Naturally there will be a desire to keep the word "death" or a synonym in the title, so other possible alternatives might include TOUCH OF DEATH, MORTIFYING TOUCH, or something like DEATHLY PALLOR which could preserve "deathly" while using it appropriately to describe the Specters themselves.

Yup, my grammar is not even close to perfect. But that'll get cleared up if/when the design is passed through the playtesting phase.

The theme behind Deathly Touch is that enemy feels weird, and a bit sickly, because they just felt another soul pass through their body, and that is why their defense goes down. So Deathly sounds like it fits exactly how I intended.

[Just_a_Bill]

Originally Posted by Leaf_It

The theme behind Deathly Touch is that enemy feels weird, and a bit sickly, because they just felt another soul pass through their body, and that is why their defense goes down. So Deathly sounds like it fits exactly how I intended.

Right, I get that that's what you're going for. What I'm trying to point out is that the victim may feel deathly (that's great and all), but you are using the adjective to describe the specter's touch, which is not deathly but deadly.

Readers who understand the opposite directionality of these two words look at the title and say "that's backwards." It's similar to the situation where somebody describes themselves as "nauseous" when they really mean they are nauseated (what's nauseous is the thing that made them nauseated).

To try to be more clear, I'm not saying "deathly" is a bad word for this context; it's actually a good word for it, if it is applied to the right thing (the victim).

Anyway, I've shared the information. Best of luck to your design as it goes through the process.

[superfrog]

So if these Specters are now Harbingers, what are they harbingers of?

I've been interpreting it as a harbingers of despair/portents of doom/bad omen type of thing. Is that correct, and how does it play into their backstory?

[Leaf_It]

Originally Posted by superfrog

So if these Specters are now Harbingers, what are they harbingers of?

I've been interpreting it as a harbingers of despair/portents of doom/bad omen type of thing. Is that correct, and how does it play into their backstory?

Harbingers as in an Omen, or sign of something to come. The area of Aldorn was a city that had a curse placed upon it, and the people that were there became the specters. Anyone who dies there would have a similar fate. The specters act as warning to those seeking to loot the city, or enter the area, but also to protect the city that they lived in when they were alive.

[Scytale]

Originally Posted by Leaf_It

Harbingers as in an Omen, or sign of something to come. The area of Aldorn was a city that had a curse placed upon it, and the people that were there became the specters. Anyone who dies there would have a similar fate. The specters act as warning to those seeking to loot the city, or enter the area, but also to protect the city that they lived in when they were alive.

That makes me less convinced, honestly. That doesn't sound like they're heralding anything. That description fits something like Haunter much better.

[Scytale]

Rendar Fy by @capsocrates

Another soldier is summoned to join his fellow Mariedians from Alpha Prime. Let's see how well he does in the Battle of All Time.

Balance

Syvarris makes for a decent comparison point. Rendar approaches his range, but loses his second attack when shooting long distance. Both throw four dice from height, but Rendar is worse when he doesn't have height. Offensively, Syvarris is definitely stronger. Rendar has significantly better defense, though, and the synergy he has with the M-43 Resistance Fighters is arguably better than the synergies Syvarris gets from being an Elf. All told, being a bit cheaper than Syvarris seems reasonable.

Theme

The Mariedian faction continues to expand with gun-toting soldiers and scrappy fighters. From the various points in Alpha Prime's timeline to draw from, Rendar Fy could fit in a fairly broad range with his skilled-soldier design. There isn't much else here in terms of theme; everything about the unit is fairly straightforward yet broad enough to leave a lot of room for lore.

Creativity

Sighting is a great power: simple, thematic, and with more than enough value to influence how the unit is played. It's nice to see it reused here, and with Rendar it works even better than with the Microcorp Troopers in terms of play. Battle Rifle is a choice power, which is not something I'm particularly keen on myself. A good design creates gameplay choices inherently, so choices within powers feels extraneous. That said, Battle Rifle isn't really the choice power it appears to be, it's really Double Attack with a range restriction. When looking at it from that perspective, it's a clever and elegant way to word it.

Playability

The design here is fairly straightforward, and it plays as you'd expect. That's certainly not bad thing. The simple combination of Sighting and a range-restricted Double Attack make for a lot of important decisions.

With this Mariedian height is key, much more so than usual. Without height his offensive power is pretty pathetic, but with height he's a solid attacker. It's extreme enough that I avoided putting order markers on him unless I was certain I could get height. The M-43s are very helpful for this, giving Rendar free movements to get up on the high ground. Once he was there, his combat strength was enough to make me consider putting order markers on him instead of the M-43s, or at least keep me from regretting it when I did. In particular, it was nice to have a double attack of four at the ready to take on defensively tough units that drew in close.

Battle Rifle forces him to play more up close and personal than you really want out of a ranged hero. Two attacks is much better than one, after all, though it's worth noting that's only true if he maintains height. Usually in the worst case an order marker on Rendar would get a long-range shot with height advantage, best case two close-range shots with height advantage. That second attack to squeeze out more damage is awfully nice, often tempting the player to overextend him. I rather liked that tension.

While I would certainly recommend drafting his fellow Mariedians if you want to use Rendar, he isn't a bad way to spend 85 points on his own. He doesn't pack enough heat to see a lot of play early or mid game, but if you can get height you usually won't regret it if you do put order markers on him. Mainly, though, he makes for a pretty solid cleanup figure.

Summary

Rendar Fy isn't flashy, not in the design and not in play. He's a decent attacker with some nice options and decent synergy. He doesn't have tricks like Kira Jax or multiple uses like Jarek Guy, but he fits well as a solid fighter in M-43 builds and can pull his weight outside of that.

I vote Yea to induct Renday Fy into the SoV.

[Sir Heroscape]

It's time for another submission!!! It's been a while since I've submitted to the SoV, having worked on a number of different projects on and off...but sometimes you get truly inspired, and that is what brought this faction about. I've playtested the HECK out of these guys (with many of you many times, so sorry if I wore out my welcome), and gotten a lot of good feedback and a lot of needed changes. Anyway, I'll explain more later in the post for those who want to read more details so without further adieu I present to you SoV... THE SHADOW FACTION! At their head is Xundar (primary submission) and his conjured shadows (4 common heroes, all secondary submissions).





Bio:Sgt Drake called out to halt the line of troops, something wasn't right. Marching on Utgar's forces in the middle of the night was supposed to be a tactical advantage, but the air was too still and shivers began to crawl down his spine. "March on!" Drake said, "but keep it quiet, there's something out there." As they took a bend in the road, pitch blackness awaited them. An eerie smile, lit only by the soft glow of a sorcerer staff, hung in the middle of the blackness as if suspended on it's own. "Welcome," it said "to my domain."

Xundar is the Drow Archmage from the D&D Rage of Demons line. All the common shadow figures are Reaper Bones: Shadow Demon, Shadow, Shadow Hound, Shadow Tentacle

• Balance
  Xundar: He's the army, plain and simple. Without Xundar, this faction falls flat. He's like unto other commanders that when they fall the army is less productive, but even without a commander the Ashigaru can fight well enough and the FE's without Kurrok are kind of a little army unto themselves and Elves without Ulginesh can do okay as long as they're near other elves. True to theme, the conjured Shadows fall away when their master has fallen. Hence I've made him fairly strong in his ability to move and command shadows in the same turn, but kept him balanced in high pricing, low defense, and a shorter range for his special to keep him from kiting the end game to effectively.
  Shadow Hound: Tank of the army. Holds the line, but without other Shadows around really struggles to produce, also because his power only activates on figures he was not engaged to at the start of his turn.
  Shadow Wraith: Easily the weakest of the lot, though still to be reckoned with when you've got swarming shadows around a poor hero weak of mind and ready to be controlled.
  Shadow Demon: High movement allows this unit to be the shock troop of the army, swooping in to deal the final blow once the opponents units are confused and preoccupied. The low special attack keeps the from being too overpowered and the low defense makes them easier targets when they do fly in.
  Shadow Binder: These guys strictly act as the map controllers for this army. Their offensive output if very weak (maybe killed like 4-5 figures in the 20 tests I've done), but they provide a tactical advantage for this army that helps them to set up their powers as well as take an opponent out of position.
• Playability Each unit has their own unique ability as well as one common thematic ability. All of their abilities tie them together, to their minis and to the theme. The abilities read easily, are understandable and operate as expected.
• Creativity These units have easily been the most creative I've worked on. Something is just exciting about a conjuring Drow Sorcerer on one end of the battlefield sending his shadow minions out to take an enemy head on. Each unit is created unique and all play AND look good together. They all just FIT.
• Theme Theme drips from the minis, the design and the way they play. Heck, look closely at the mini and you'll notice that Xundar's staff even has the SAME EXACT translucent purple at the top as the shadow minis themselves...just perfect. But yes, the cards powers all have theme roped into them tightly.
• Accessibility Xundar's miniature is widely available for ~3-$4 with over 80 figures currently in market. All the Reaper Shadow minis are also widely available and currently in production directly from the manufacturer (Reaper Minis). You can purchase them off of their website for about $3-$4 a piece.

Playtesting Notes:
- You almost always want 2 Binders in your army, 3 if you've playing a fairly high point game, but rarely 4 (save the points for the other commons)
- The most of a Wraith you should have is 1. Of course you can do more, but the most effective use is to have one on hand IN CASE your opponent has heroes and to try and bring it out into a spot where you can take the opportunity to soul manipulate. I often found though that it didn't pay off as well as I would have liked, but the Wraith was still a strong option and scare tactic.
- You typically want even numbers of Hounds and Demons though if you have an uneven number of them, take the extra Hound. Hounds are great for pushing the frontline and holding the map, while Demons are great for flying in as shock troops from the Startzone and killing something that's been bogged down.
- Keep Xundar safe! That should go without saying, but 6 life and the ability to move can make you a little cocky...because once he's caught, he goes down quick. More so than any other commander out there, he's the weakest defensively AND his army hurts the most once he's gone.

Thank you for your consideration!

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Considering that this fellow is basically just Kurrrok 2 Electric Boogaloo, I would have preferred to at least see him under a different general or something. But that’s just a minor quibble.

However, Shadow Master absolutely neeeds some OM reveal lingo attached to it. So I guess I’d technically down vote the primary submission (and thus all of them) over that until it was fixed, though that’s an easy one since you can just borrow the wording from Kurrok.

The secondary’s are fine with me except for the Shadow Wraith, that one is getting a definitive from me. Any unit that can let you steal a Hero 3 times in one ‘player turn’ is just too much if you ask me, the game is just not meant to handle that kind of turn layering. Honestly, even if it was somehow limited to one a ‘player turn’ (or even restricted to an OM reveal turn so you could help set it up with Xundar but not trigger it during one of his triple turns) I’m not sure I’d be comfortable with a mind control power like that at that cost.